Creating "Atop the Hill"

This one pretty much wrote itself.  Who is this?  A sentry, a guardian, a gatekeeper?  Or perhaps just a plain, old observer?  This poem speaks of suffering.

Extract from "Atop the Hill"

"I see much from my place atop the hill

Harried mothers squawking

Old men numb with loneliness

Laced lovers convinced of privacy."

Afterthoughts for "Atop the Hill"

I'm a voyeur. I say that with no embarrassment. If I could have a superpower, being invisible would be it, 

no question. I'm fascinated by human behavior; observing people and seeing how much story gets told 

without a lot of dialogue, and how much our brain fills in. 

Thomas Schlamme

Of the two sisters one is always the watcher, one the dancer.

Louise Gluck


My Drawing:

Excellent and very smart writing!

ByBarbara S. Menningaon June 24, 2017

Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase

This book is so creative and so very thought-provoking! I have read it from beginning to end and back again

 because it is wonderful reading and because I think and feel something different each time I read a poem

 or section. It is one of the richest and challenging books of poetry I've read in a very long time. I say it's 

challenging because the vocabulary, writing and arrangements have left me thinking and wanting to read 

more. Excellent book!

The photograph that inspired my poem "This Is a Good Thing"  recently published (May 29, 2017) in The Voices Project.  It can be read in its entirety at www.thevoicesproject.org.

Creating "The First Week of Shattered Dreams"

The first week after the death of a spouse is an indeterminable, agonizingly slow time for developing the intermittent realization that the deceased is not returning.  Not only is the world turned sideways, but what used to seem so natural now takes on the aura of another world.

Extract from "The First Week of Shattered Dreams"

This lone week plays as a century long,
With each new normal nothing more
Than a ridiculous display,
Aberrant,
A pretentious pageant with no real import."

Afterthoughts for "The First Week of Shattered Dreams"

Widow. The word consumes itself.

Sylvia Plath

For many women, becoming a widow does not just mean the heartache of losing a husband, but ofetn losing everything else as well.

Cherie Blair

He first deceased; she for a little tried to live without him, liked it not, and died.

Sir Henry Wooten

My poem "My Mother's Secret" will be published by Leaves Of Ink on November 1st.

5.0 out of 5 starsAmazing what thoughts can come from having insomnia

ByAmazon Customeron June 6, 2017

Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase

Amazing what thoughts can come from having insomnia! Absolutely loved it all
 and appreciate the time spent in writting such contemplations on lifes big mysteries.